4 weeks of class down = 1/3 done = 8 WEEKS UNTIL I GRADUATE!!!

Had my Leadership in Management class for the second time today and it's going to be a complete piece of cake! I only have the class every other week for two hours on Thursday. It's supposed to be on weeks 1,3,5,7,9 and 11...this is week 4 but the prof moved week 3's class to this week because she had a conflict. But as I said...EASY! Our whole grade comes from two assignments that are easy in themselves. 70% of the grade is taking an organization (spelled organisation in Northern Ireland...they really don't use Z's) we've worked for and explaining in a 1,500 word paper their culture, communication styles, structure and leadership of the management. Then, 30% of the grade is a 500 word paper keeping a journal of what we feel were the most important things we've learned in the class and how we can use them in the future. That's it! Love having an easy class like that. :)

After class I came back to my room and did a lot of nothing. I did purchase my ticket to go to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher!!! Sooo excited for that! I talked to my Dubliners and Catherine is going to be in Paris that weekend but Jess will be home and she said that I can definitely stay with her Thursday and Saturday night and she is really considering going with me...I'm sooo excited!! All I have left to book is Scotland and then I've got all my travel plans made! It's really exciting to plan trips and talk about them..but it's sooo much more fun when you actually book the things and KNOW that you get to go! I definitely took some time to think about just how incredibly blessed I am. In 3 and a half months I get to go to Killary Adventure Co., Dublin 3 times, The Giant Causeway 2 times, Bushmills, Derry, Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, Connemara, Cong, Paris, London, Liverpool, Bath, Stonehenge, Amsterdam, Scotland and probably more...all while living in the suburbs of BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND! Crazy! I guess I should take a second to say...love you mommy and daddy...you are amazing parents! :)

My afternoon was very uneventful, but later I got a message from Ally asking if I wanted to go to dinner with her and a few of the girls in Carrickfergus. I said of course and so Ally, Rebecca (Texas), Meghan (N. Carolina), Colleen (Illinois), Nikki (New York) and Jennie (Colorado) went to Papa Brown's for dinner in Carrickfergus. It was very good food, reasonable prices and great service! We will definitely be going back there more! Like I just said...two of the girls are from Texas and N. Carolina and one of my flat mates is also from N. Carolina (they are actually from the same school...didn't know each other before this trip)...I'm not going to end up coming back with an Irish accent I'm going to end up saying things like y'all! It's already slipped out of my mouth a couple times...

At dinner we discussed girls fashion choices here. Not so much their clothes because all their clothes are usually quite adorable but their make up is NOT. The girls here tend to really cake on their make up it's crazy! You also see lots of fake eyelashes that don't really look so good. The make up is intense but even worse is the fake tans! They don't fake and bake like girls do in the states but they use the self tanner lotion here and it's terrible. Their knuckles and knees and elbows and ankles are sooo orange and gross...not sure how they think it looks good but a lot of girls do it!

We were standing outside the restaurant after we finished waiting for our taxis to get there and one of the waitresses came out for a smoke break and so we asked her to take a group photo for us. She was very happy to and stood there and talked to us for a while. She was really friendly and gave us the names of some good clubs to go to in Belfast. I love how nice the Irish are!

Now I'm back in my room after dinner pretty much just in for the night. Thinking about getting up to get myself some socks because my feet are like icicles. It's getting a little colder here and it isn't that noticeable just being outside but the part that is noticeable is how much colder our rooms are getting. I haven't had to turn on my heater just yet...but I'm thinking it will definitely be happening in the next couple weeks. It is going to be a quiet weekend because most of the international students are heading to Edinburgh, Scotland for a couple days. I would have gone but I opted out because I have my first test on Monday and I wouldn't have gotten back in time. Plus I plan on going to Scotland in December so I won't miss anything I can't still go see. Ally isn't going to Scotland either so I will still have her to hang out with and I will need to definitely do some studying too. All of the Irish students go home on weekends. Weird...but they do so there is going to be very few people actually on campus this weekend.